Monthly Archives: April 2016

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Rory Moroney. fought the Long Beach Police Department and won. The police arrested him for lewd conduct, but a judge on Friday dismissed the case and said the police discriminate against gay men in their lewd conduct sting operations.(Photo by Brittany Murray / SCNG)

LONG BEACH – A superior court judge Friday made scathing statements about the Long Beach Police Department’s treatment of gay men in the community, saying in a ruling over a lewd conduct case that the department is hostile and intentionally targets gay men, and that the prosecutor’s office portrays them as “sexual deviants and pedophiles.”

Case dismissed

In his ruling, Long Beach Superior Court Judge Halim Dhanidina dismissed the case against Rory Moroney, 50, of Long Beach, who was arrested Oct. 15, 2014, at Recreation Park and charged with one count of misdemeanor indecent exposure and one count of lewd conduct. If Moroney would have been convicted of indecent exposure, he would have been required to register as a sex offender for life.

This 2013 file photo shows marchers in the Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade. This year, before the parade, parade organizers and the City Clerk’s office will host a free same-sex wedding ceremony.

Members of the local LGBT community who helped the city plan and develop Harvey Milk Promenade Park – named after California’s first openly gay elected official – were stunned to see initial renderings of a new “Outdoor Office” being planned at the park.They say it seems the city is erasing the park elements that spotlight the contributions of the LGBT community and trying to put Milk “in the closet” as it plans to transform the space into an a retail and gathering space. Photo: Courtesy of Vanessa Romain.

LONG BEACH – Members of the local LGBT community who helped the city plan and develop Harvey Milk Promenade Park – named after California’s first openly gay elected official – were stunned to see initial renderings of a new “Outdoor Office” being planned at the park.

They say it seems the city is erasing the park elements that spotlight the contributions of the LGBT community and trying to put Milk “in the closet” as it plans to transform the space into an a retail and gathering space.